"Research released Wednesday from the University of Pennsylvania found that as more wells were drilled in Northeastern Pennsylvania, hospital admission rates for cardiovascular events rose in the same areas.

The Penn study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, analyzed hospital discharge data for 93,000 inpatients, by zip code, between 2007 and 2011 in three counties in Pennsylvania's northeastern corner. Bradford and Susquehanna each had large increases over that time in wells that use [fracking]. Neighboring Wayne County had no gas development.

While hospital admission rates decreased slightly or remained constant overall, as they have nationwide, hospitalizations for cardiology were about 27 percent higher over five years among residents who lived in zip codes with more wells and more wells per square kilometer than among those whose zip codes had the least.

Neurology admissions also increased significantly for zips with more wells.

...

The studies only show links, not cause and effect."

source:

http://www.philly.com/philly/health/20150116_Pa__studies_link_frack...

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Paul,

     In Summitville Ohio several wells were drilled in the same area in 2011-2013. One young gentleman had open heart surgery, and a farmer I know also had heart problems. A lady I met in Carroll County who lived near the drilling had a stroke.

It could be all the gases being released from the wells as well as the air being thick with diesel exhaust from all the compressors and trucks carrying water to the well then standing by for hours with the engines running.

From these several examples, I already believed that Fracking was causing health issues even though the evidence wasn't derived from a Scientific process. They were more like Real Life first hand evidence driven.

Is this sarcasm?

Ya Ragnars, I think so.  Gotta go easy on these 'tree squeezers'...they vote too.

Paul looks like a coal seam problem more then a drilling or fracing issue. Look up dates how many shale wells drilled or fraced  before 2007 or 2008. Please post your findings. Can you hear the words blowing smoke!!!

Paul,

As usual you post nonsense.

The last sentence says it all "... The studies only show links, not cause and effect."

A link means there "may be" an association.

Cause and effect means that there is a definite, provable relationship; and as usual there is none.

And as usual, you obviously did not read the material that you posted.

The research does not draw the conclusion you wish the readers here to believe.

Which is, that oil and gas drilling is associated with cardiovascular issues.

The info you posted even states it.

Again, I have to wonder why any responsible administrator allows you to teach.

The larger hospitals in Pittsbugh used to get all the major cardio problems because the smaller hospitals didn't have the certification to do many procedures. Over the last several years the smaller hospitals in outlying counties have started increasing the the types of and complexity of conditions they now can treat. Hence more admittance for those conditions.

This type of study is as imformative as which counties eat white nacho chips compared to yellow if you leave donut holes of the counties with the major health facilities and don't plot how many less patients get treated there.

Way to go Paul.......when you look to hard for things that aren't there it can make you squint.

Dan,

Plus many of these counties had high unemployment rates, Many of the unemloyed didn't have health insurance and tended to ignore health issues.

Unemployment is down due to shale energy jobs. With those jobs comes health insurance.

Bottom line here is that once again Paul has posted utter nonsense.

Way to go, Dan! You've pointed out that records should be collected from Pittsburgh hospitals, too, to increase the sample size and getting a more complete picture of the health of the residents of these northern counties. And Sherre Boyanowski pointed out that it would be good to add in admission records from some hospitals in New York state across the border, too, since some patients go there.

Both of these suggestions point to the value of a registry for gas-industry-related health issues. That way undergraduate students, graduate students, and maybe even high school students across the state could be doing good research to determine what adverse health effects there could be from all this drilling, fracking, wastewater disposal, etc. This U. of Penn study is one of the first of its type, it seems, and we'll need many more such studies.

My suggestion for future research studies would be to collect info on where people live and work, including transient workers. The health of the gas workers is very important too, of course, and they're closer to the source of the pollutants than anybody else (for a few hours a day, anyway). This current study didn't include hospital admissions when somebody listed their home address as out of state (Texas, Oklahoma, whatever) but if someone is living in a man camp in one of these northern PA counties and getting sick correlated with the location of his temporary lodging, or is getting sick correlated with where he works, we need to know that. Or maybe they're not getting sick. Either way, the way to find out is to collect the right data and do a proper scientific study.

This is analogous to the scientific process that went on decades ago to figure out the health effects of smoking, and how dangerous is secondhand smoke, and are all tobacco products equally dangerous, etc.

I look forward to the day the motor of the world stops.

Paul,

It would be nice if just once you would engage in intellectual discussion about your posts and the opposing ideas. Instead of just ignoring the truth and facts.

But, it has become obvious that you intend to adhere to the leftists play book and ignore the truth, facts and reality.

As usual, it amazes me that any administrator would allow you into a classroom and allow you to foul the minds of impressionable young people.

It is the way of the world my friend, Too many deluded and poisoned young minds already.  I am on Ragnars bus - it just cannot be fixed at this point.  Peace out!

The call for more and more and more endless studies is a typical leftist tactic.

Along with the call for these studies is also the call to end the activity to be studied.

In this case, shale development, is the exact final goal of these far extreme people. In other words stop the exploration for and development of fossil fuels.

Once you agree to a hiatus to shale development these people will never let shale development begin again.

Just look what happened in NY. It was said all that was needed was a few studies to be sure that shale development and fracing were "safe". The studies came back and proved there was no imminent danger to the health of state residents. Was the ban lifted ? I think we all know the answer to that question.

Instead of moving ahead with the recommendations of those studies the Governor of NY insisited on more study. He is a leftist ideologue and believes in this tactic of delay, delay, delay. He will never agree to allow shale development which employs hydraulic fracturing.

Don't get me wrong, if the stuff that Paul and others post had merit I would be right there with them requesting further study. As it is the stuff they post is just nonsense.

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